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Research Poster for Sociocultural Aspects of Dress DUE April 26, 11:59 PM
Poster Design Principles & Tips
1. Organize your ideas and create an outline or sketch of where you plan to place the
various details of your poster, which should include the title, body of text, pictures, key
points, etc. Decide where each section will go. Consistent and clear layout.
2. Use the template posted on Canvas (Note: you can use other platforms such as
Canva or infographic template).
3. Focus on visuals and what you need to show the viewer. The pictures, facts, graphs
and diagrams are the most important part of the poster. Choose images and diagrams
wisely and make sure they clearly support your point. Always include a large picture to
grab passersby’s attention. High quality photos will translate better in large print.
3. Make sure ideas flow logically from one section to the next. Your poster presentation
should follow a path that leads anyone reading from section to section. A reader should
start in the upper left corner of the poster presentation and work their way to the bottom
of the poster then left to right adding new columns as they need them. Your information
should be clear and concise.
4. Poster size: 36X48 inches (Landscape)
5. For the major sections of the poster-suggested sizes:
Title: 85pt (Research paper title is short and draws interest)
Author, advisor, and affiliation: 56pt (Be sure to include your name, faculty
advisor: Anupama Pasricha, Ph.D. Sociocultural Aspects of Dress, Fashion
Design and Merchandising Department)
Sub-headings: 36pt
Body text: 24pt
Captions: 18pt
Titles and headings should appear larger than other text, but not too large. Since
no two posters are alike, the text size may vary for each poster you create. Using
24-36pt font for your poster font size is a good place to start. Edit and trim the
text as needed, and adjust the font size until it fits well in your selected space.
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6. Keep heading sizes consistent. Text having the same level of importance should
be the same font size.
7. Use sans serif fonts, which typically read better and are viewable from a
distance. Arial and Verdana are pleasing to the reader’s eye. Pick no more than
2-3 fonts
8. Word count of about 300 to 800 words
9. Avoid excessive text. (Poster should have roughly 30% text, 40%
figures/pictures, 30% space)
10. Use of bullets, numbering, and headlines make it easy to read
11. Do not use all capital letters. Use the bold face or italics or combinations to
emphasize words and phrases.
12. Left-align text. Using fully justified text will create large gaps between some
words and make it difficult to read
13. Keep consistent margins, keep consistent line spacing, Keep the color, style, and
thickness of border same
14. Pick no more than 2-3 colors
Do Not Plagiarize Text or Images/Figures
Plagiarism is presenting work or ideas from another source as your own, with or without
consent of the original author, by incorporating it into your work without full
acknowledgement. https://libguides.stkate.edu/writingresources/plagiarism
Creative Common Images
The following image platforms make it easier to cite and attribute properly, since rights
and permissions are often stated for each image that is shared.
Flickr
Online forum for image sharing, with clear use permissions.
Pexels
“Free stock photos, royalty free images & videos shared by creators.”
Pixabay
Free images & royalty free stock
Unsplash
Three million curated and freely usable images
Every Stock Photo
A search engine for free photos. These come from many sources and are
license-specific. You can view a photo’s license by clicking on the license icon,
below and left of photos. Membership is free, without advertising, and allows you
to rate, tag, collect and comment on photos.
Public Domain Images
Images in the public domain are not restricted under copyright, which means you do not
need to obtain special permission to use them in your work.
Note: you should always attribute proper credit when using images, even if available in
the public domain.
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Public Domain Review
Images from Public Domain Review on Pinterest
Public Domain Images
General website with public domain images.
Public Domain Graphics from US Government
Images in public domain (some are restricted; read license)
Other Useful Web Resources
Minnesota Historical Society Visual Resources Database
Information about photographs, artwork, posters, and fine art photographs from
the collections of the Minnesota Historical Society are included in this database.
Smithsonian Open Access
More than 4.4 million 2D and 3D digital items available to download, share, and
reuse.
VADS
Over 140,000 images from over 300 art and design collections across the UK,
which are freely available for non-commercial use in education.
(Source: https://libguides.stkate.edu/images)
View Your Poster at 100% size
Once your poster is complete, view it at 100% size and examine all graphics before
submitting it for printing. Many graphic files do not scale up well (when stretched to a
larger size they appear blurry), especially if you copy or paste a graphic or chart from a
website or another document. If your graphic appears blurry at 100%, you need to use a
different graphic that has a higher resolution. When submitting your poster for print, be
sure to SAVE the document as a .ppt or .pptx and then open up your file and save it as
a .pdf.